CLEVELAND — FirstEnergy is still working to restore power to thousands of people in northeast Ohio after Tuesday’s tornadoes, and communities are looking for more than just electricity.
The Greater Cleveland Food Bank is full of locals in desperate need of food after many foods have spoiled and the refrigerator isn’t working. As of today, thousands of customers in Northern Ohio are still without power, according to FirstEnergy, after more than 300,000 people were left without power following storms earlier this week.
“I was eating wrong, not sleeping properly and losing weight,” said Devona Ashbrook of Cleveland.
Devona moved to the city from Columbus a year and a half ago and currently lives on the east side.
“I’m the only resident at my address right now, but there are eight people on our street who didn’t have electricity,” she said.
Ashbrook said the situation immediately went downhill when the wind picked up.
“We had no power from 4:30 p.m. until last night at 9:30 or 9 p.m. when the power came back on,” she said.
Now she and others are working in food distribution, trying to make up for the losses after the storm.
“I have nothing to eat. When the power came back on, I grabbed everything that was perishable so I could eat until I get my food stamps next Friday,” Ashbrook said.
Karen Pozna is communications director for the Greater Cleveland Foodbank. She said they’ve noticed an influx of people in the last few days.
“We have seen an increase in the number of people seeking help in the last few days,” Ponza said. “We have provided a lot more non-perishable food.”
They had never experienced a storm like this before, Ponza said, but now they knew better what to expect.
“If storms like this become more common, we’ll just make sure we’re always prepared and have a plan to deal with them,” Ponza said.
The Greater Cleveland Food Pantry is accepting donations to be used to purchase additional food for those in need and is asking anyone needing assistance to call their assistance center at 216-738-2067.
